In Formula One land nothing should be surprising. Lewis Hamilton announcing he was leaving Mercedes, where he’s claimed six of his seven titles, was indeed a shock for some and then came the news Adrian Newey was leaving Red Bull Racing.

A driver of Carlos Sainz class driving for Williams next season has raised the odd eyebrow or two as has the team’s decision to give their academy driver nine races before the Spaniard joins full time in January.

When it comes to Renault, F1 history shows anything is possible. The French automotive brand first entered the sport in 1977 as a full works team then began selling customer engines in 1983. Renault withdrew their team for 1986 but continued supplying customer engines before pulling out all of F1 all together the following year.

 

 

 

Renault F1 yo-yo

Renault power returned in 1989 for customer teams but it was 2000 before the French manufacturer returned as a full works outfit having bought the Bennetton team which when rebranded won the 2005/6 drivers’ and constructors’ championships.

Renault sold out their interest in the Enstone based F1 team for 2011 but continued supplying power units into the V6 Turbo hybrid era. The French executives decided to buy back the Enstone team and it was entered as Renault once again in 2016. In 2001 the team was rebranded promote the Renault sports car brand Alpine but now the future of the outfit remains uncertain.

Renault as an F1 team owner have won two drivers’ titles and two constructors’ championships but their most significant contribution to F1 has been as a supplier of engines. They have claimed 12 constructors’ and 11 drivers’ championships and collected over 160 wins as engine supplier, ranking fourth in Formula One history.

So it was a HUGE surprise to the paddock to hear that Renault would be quitting F1 as a power unit supplier. The Alpine team is set to continue but be powered by Mercedes, which is somewhat confusing in terms of brand awareness.

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A decade of “evidence”

Former Alpine team boss, Bruno Famin, made it public knowledge in July the decision taken by the Renault board to cease the production of F1 power units in Viry-Chatillon.

This will slash the $120 million the group spends a year as a power unit manufacturer to around just $17 million a year as a Mercedes customer.

Renault recently appointed the flamboyant Italian, Flavio Briatore as a special advisor to the team explains the decision has been forced on the French manufacturer due to a lack of performance since the start of the hybrid era (2014).

“The problem is the evidence,” Briatore told Autosport. And the Renault power units have year in and out been the worst performing in the field and is currently believed to be 20 BHP down on its rivals.

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Staff angry at proposed closure

Yet the decision to quit F1 to focus on FIA WEC, Dakar, Formula E and the Alpine road car programme has gone down badly with the staff in Viry-Chatillon. The Social and Economic Council of Alpine employees wrote last week: “We do not understand what justifies killing this elite entity that is the Viry-Chatillon site and betraying its legend and its DNA by grafting a Mercedes heart into our F1 Alpine [car].”

Briatore is quick to note the decision to scrap Renault power in F1 pre-dated his recent appointment. “Regarding the engine, it was decided already from the management, and for me it is fine,” he said.

“Whatever our chairman decides, fine. This was decided already, soon before I arrived in the team. I am not the bad guy all the time….everything else you [can] blame [on] me. Not this one.”

New Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes referred in Zandvoort to Briatore as the “the Flavio tornado.” This in turn has prompted speculation that a huge staff cull is coming as in Viry, 2 of the three hundred employees are working on the F1 programme.

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Briatore makes unrealistic claim

“We don’t want to cut any jobs, we want to just have an efficiency,” Briatore unrealistically explained. The people who want to stay with us, they are welcome to stay. But we need everybody in the same line.

“We want to have people with the experience, the people working together as an F1 team. After that, we don’t want to fire anybody.”

Alpine are in no mans land in the championship. They lie in P6 on a 120 points, 160 behind Aston Martin and 92 ahead of the Williams team. There persists rumours this weekend that they are in with a shout of signing Adrian Newey.

Aston Martin are believed to have tabled a $100 million offer to Newey to join them next year but the Daily Mail reports today that Flavio Briatore has had “extensive talks” with the F1 guru designer.

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Alpine talking to Newey

Ferrari are believed to have rejected Newey based on his demands for complete freedom to change whatever he sees fit. Vasseur believes this would be de-motivational for the current crop of Maranello engineers.

Newey in Enstone would calm troubled waters which has seen a senior management team merry-go-round in recent years which in turn has affected the performance of the cars on track. This seasons car arrived in Bahrain significantly overweight and whilst the team has made progress they look nailed on to finish the season a lonely eighth.

Whilst gloating over his coup having captured the services of Carlos Sainz going forward, James Vowles suggested in Zandvoort that other big name signing were yet to be announced. This plays to the notions of those who want to see a romantic reunion of Newey and Williams since it was in Grove where Adrian had his first Formula One big success.

While Williams were “panicked” into sacking Sargeant

 

 

 

Red Bull civil war re-ignites

Just when Christian Horner thought it was safe to go out in the Formula One paddock…. With the sound turned down and just the TV pictures playing, watching Max Verstappen and Christian Horner after the Dutch Grand Prix, anyone would think it was Red Bull business as usual.

Yet nothing could be further from there truth. Max has now not won a race in the last five weekends and the last time that happened was before he became F1 world champion. The first four of those race weekends were unfortunate at times, but Lando Norris win in the Netherlands is a game changer.

Norris qualified on pole position by over a third of a second ad despite a poor start which saw him lose the lead, on lap eighteen the McLaren eased ahead of Verstappen along the main straight. Lando was to come home a whopping 22.9 seconds ahead of Verstappen and this very margin sent shockwaves through the paddock… READ MORE